Crescentine (often called tigelle outside Modena, though technically the tigella is the terracotta disc used to cook them, not the bread itself) are small, round, thick flatbreads from the Modenese Apennine hills — cooked between pairs of heated terracotta discs or in a special cast-iron mould that stamps them with a decorative pattern. The dough is leavened with yeast or, in older recipes, natural sourdough, and enriched with lard — producing a bread that is softer and slightly more risen than piadina, with a specific bouncy texture that comes from the combination of leavening and fat. Crescentine are split open horizontally while hot and spread with cunza (a pounded paste of lard, garlic, and rosemary — the traditional Modenese condiment) or filled with salumi and soft cheese. The cunza is specifically Modenese: raw lard pounded with garlic cloves and fresh rosemary needles until it becomes a smooth, aromatic paste that melts instantly into the hot bread. The tigella mould — a hinged cast-iron device with multiple shallow round impressions — is the traditional cooking tool, placed directly over coals or a gas flame. The heat from both sides cooks the crescentina evenly, producing a bread with a lightly crusted exterior and a soft, yielding interior. In the Modenese hills around Zocca, Montese, and Pavullo nel Frignano, crescentine con cunza are served at every family gathering, paired with a board of local salumi and a bottle of Lambrusco. They are the mountain counterpart to the lowland piadina — same philosophy of simple bread as a vehicle for extraordinary cured meats and cheeses, adapted to a different landscape and cooking tradition.
Dough: flour, water, yeast, salt, lard, sometimes milk — knead until smooth|Let rise until doubled, 1-1.5 hours|Divide into 40-50g balls, flatten into discs 8-10cm diameter, 1-1.5cm thick|Cook in tigella moulds (heated cast iron with round impressions) or between terracotta discs|Cook over medium-high heat, 3-4 minutes per side, until golden and cooked through|Split open while hot and fill immediately|Traditional filling: cunza (pounded lard, garlic, and rosemary paste)|Also excellent with prosciutto, mortadella, squacquerone, or stracchino
To make cunza: pound 100g fresh lard (not rendered strutto but soft, white lardo) with 2 garlic cloves and a generous handful of rosemary needles in a mortar until smooth. The result should be spreadable and aromatic. If you don't have tigella moulds, a heavy panini press or two cast iron skillets (one pressing down on the other) can approximate the result. The dough can include a small amount of milk for extra tenderness. In the Modenese hills, crescentine are also called 'crescentine del testo' to distinguish them from gnocco fritto (which is sometimes called 'crescentina fritta' in Bologna). Lambrusco di Modena is the canonical pairing — its slight fizz and acidity cut through the richness of the lard and cured meats.
Calling the bread 'tigelle' — the tigella is the cooking disc, the bread is crescentina (though this battle is largely lost outside Modena). Making the discs too large — they should be palm-sized, not plate-sized. Not using lard in the dough — it produces the specific soft, rich texture that distinguishes crescentine from ordinary rolls. Filling them cold — they must be split and filled while steaming hot. Overcooking — they should be golden, not dark brown; the interior must remain soft.
Anna Gosetti della Salda, Le Ricette Regionali Italiane (1967); Accademia Italiana della Cucina — Modena volume